In recent years, engineering perturbation-induced seismicity in oil and gas exploration, deep geothermal energy development and deep mining has attracted widespread attention at home and abroad, and has become an international frontier research hotspot. With the support of the "Theory and Technology of Engineering Disturbance Rock Dynamics" project of the Pearl River Talents Programme, Xie Heping's team has conducted a study on water injection disturbance-induced fault instability sliding based on the self-developed fatigue variable frequency water injection disturbance-induced seismic test system. This research was featured in an eight-minute report on BBC Science in Action on 23 September 2021.

The study elucidated the mechanism and pattern of fault sliding induced by variable frequency water injection disturbance. Compared with continuous hydraulic fracturing, which is commonly used in geothermal energy and oil and gas exploration projects, cyclic water injection can effectively reduce the magnitude of induced earthquakes and break a large earthquake into multiple small ones. This research has important implications for the mechanism of induced earthquakes and their prevention and control.

The paper is a collaboration between Shenzhen University, Tianjin University, Pennsylvania State University, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) and Monash University, with Shenzhen University as the first author and co-corresponding author, Professor Zhu Jianbo of Xie Heping's team at Shenzhen University, and co-corresponding author, Professor Derek Elsworth of Penn State University. The first author and co-corresponding author is Professor Zhu Jianbo of Xie Heping's team in Shenzhen University and the co-corresponding author is Professor Derek Elsworth of Penn State University.

Science in Action, a BBC classic for over 50 years, is a half-hour programme broadcast every Tuesday and is currently hosted by British journalists Roland Pease and Marnie Chesterton, and scientist Professor Adam Hart. The programme features the latest key findings in science, most of which have been published in top journals such as Nature and Science. On September 23 2021，the program covered four studies, the other three being: new evidence of the origin of the new crown in bats, the development of an oral drug for the new crown, and the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Link to BBC coverage.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct1l47 (from 22 minutes to 30 minutes)

Link to GRL paper.

https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL092885